South America ‘a new epicentre’ of covid-19: World Health Organization

South America has grow to be “a new epicentre” of the lethal coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization mentioned Friday, following a surge within the quantity of COVID-19 infections.

“In a sense, South America has become a new epicentre for the disease. We have seen many South American countries with increasing numbers of cases,” WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan instructed a digital information convention.

“Clearly there is a concern across many of those countries, but clearly the most affected is Brazil at this point.”

The novel coronavirus demise toll in Brazil surpassed 20,000 on Thursday, after a document quantity of fatalities in a 24-hour interval, the well being ministry mentioned.

The nation’s highest one-day toll of 1,188 pushed the general demise tally to 20,047.

Brazil has now recorded greater than 310,000 circumstances, with consultants saying an absence of testing means the actual figures are in all probability a lot increased.

With its curve of infections and deaths rising sharply, the nation of 210 million ranks third on the planet in phrases of whole circumstances, behind the US and Russia.

The demise toll — the sixth highest on the planet — has doubled in simply 11 days, based on ministry information.

“The majority of the cases are from the Sao Paulo region,” mentioned Ryan.

“But in terms of attack rates, the highest attack rates are actually in Amazonas: about 490 persons infected per 100,000 population, which is quite high,” he mentioned of Brazil’s huge northwestern state.

Brazil’s well being ministry has really useful utilizing the anti-malaria medicine chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to deal with even gentle circumstances of COVID-19 — therapies President Jair Bolsonaro has pushed for regardless of the dearth of conclusive proof of their effectiveness.

US President Donald Trump on Monday made the shock announcement that he’s taking hydroxychloroquine, regardless of his personal authorities consultants saying it’s not appropriate for preventing coronavirus.

Ryan burdened that neither hydroxychloroquine nor chloroquine have been confirmed to be efficient within the remedy of COVID-19 — or in prophylaxis in opposition to the illness.

The 2 medicine are amongst a handful concerned in WHO-coordinated medical trials to search out efficient therapies for the illness. Some 3,000 sufferers are collaborating within the trials in 320 hospitals throughout 17 nations.

“Our current clinical and systematic reviews carried out by the Pan American Health Organization, and the current clinical evidence, does not support the widespread use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 — not until the trials are completed and we have clear results,” mentioned Ryan.